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Machu Picchu

Page history last edited by Ehsan 14 years, 2 months ago

Machu Picchu

The Lost City of the Inca

 

 

Machu Picchu is a small city perched upon the Andean Mountains approximately fifty miles northwest of Cuzco, Peru. The mysterious ruins of Machu Picchu are around 5 square miles in size. It was one of the only sites that were undiscovered by the Spaniards. Because it was undiscovered by the conquistadors, many artifacts were preserved, thus allowing us to be able to learn and understand more about the Inca. It may have been visited by the German adventurer, Augusto Berns, but it was officially discovered by the professor Hiram Bingham from Yale University in 1911. Bingham was led by Melchor Arteaga, one of the indigenous people. 

 

There are many different theories as to what Machu Picchu really is, ranging from a prison for the worst criminals, to an organization built to monitor the Incan economy, or even an agricultural testing area. But, the most probable theory is that Machu Picchu was just an ordinary city.

 

Machu Picchu was constructed in around 1462. There is approximately 140 buildings in total, including temples, sanctuaries, parks, and homes. The stone masonry was incredible. Mortar (a primitive type of cement) was not used in the construction of Machu Picchu. The rocks in the walls were cut so perfectly that you could not even fit a knife blade in between them. Many of the stone blocks weighed up to fifty tons. Sometimes even up to 100 stairs were carved from a single block or stone.  No evidence of the wheel has been found in any type of machinery they had, but it has been proven that they knew its principles because they applied it in their toys. Thus the transportation of the stone rocks is still unknown.

 

There were three major districts in Machu Picchu. There was the Sacred District, the Popular District (a residential district), and the District of the Priests and Nobility. The Popular District housed the lower class and contained multiple storage buildings. The Royalty area contained houses in rows over a slope. The Amautas (wise people) area had reddish walls. The Nustas (princesses) area were unique because of the trapezoid shaped houses.  Some houses were even two stories tall. The second floor was reached by a rope ladder. Rope ladders were used instead of wooden ladders because not many trees grew at that altitude. Researchers believe the Inca had created a creative irrigation system that supplied fresh spring water to each house.

 

The Inca might have chosen Machu Picchu’s current location because it contained sacred landscape features such as mountains that are aligned with astronomical events. They also had rooms or structures that were built for astronomical purposes like the Intihuatana and the Torreon. The Intihuatana is a structure that may have been associated with the winter solstice. As the sun stays less and less each day in the sky, they had to tie the sun to the Intihuatana to keep it from leaving them. Other Inca cities had this structure, but most of them were destroyed by the conquistadors. The Torreon may have been a primitive observatory. Its multiple windows may have been placed to view key astronomical events or patterns.

 

 

Citations:

 

 

"Machu Picchu." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 14 Jan. 2010  <http://school.ebonline.com/eb/article-9049747>. 

 

"Machu Picchu, Peru." sacredsites.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. <http://www.sacredsites.com/americas/peru/machu_picchu.html>.

 

"Machu Picchi." mnsu.edu. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2010. <http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/south/sites/machu_picchu.html>.

 

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